Kingfisher

[LMG]

Had a super day ringing last Sunday, loads of birds. The highlight of my day was a kingfisher. I've never seen one close up - those colours are fantastic. I didn't realise the bird was so large, I thought it was a small bird. Here's a picture of it.

[Tammie]

Wow, that sure looks a lot different from the kingfishers I see here. Wouldn't want to be on the business end of that beak! Nice picture.

[KCFoggin]

Wow that is a large kingfisher. A lot bigger than our belted kingfisher who by the way, are one of the toughest birds to try to get sitting still for a photo.
I'm curious as to how you capture them to do the ringing. Do you use nets?

[Reader]

Cracking shot LMG. Even though I must have seen these birds hundreds of times the size, using the hand as a comparison, has surprised me.

[IanF]

Lovely shot LMG, they do have rather large heads and bills don't they. Nicely composed with the background shot too !

[LMG]

KCFoggin:
Yes, we use mist nets to catch the birds.

[steve_nova]

It does seem a little larger than I expected. the colours are just electric.
Thanks for the pic.

[wandalf]

Guarantee you it would be the highlight of my day also. What a marvelous bird and photograph capturing all his brilliant colors.

[MikePearson]

I have to agree with most posters, I always thought they were smaller than they appear in you superb picture,
:t:

Mike

[Andy Bright]

Perhaps there are some nice big fish down there ;)
The one I got at the weekend (thumbnail at top of page for the digiscoping link) was about the size of a House Sparrow (maybe a fraction larger)... I think the bill gives then a larger look to them.
Regards,
Andy